AUSTIN OUTBREAKS AFTER SPILL
(Water Conditioning & Purification Magazine, 10/98)

        An estimated 1,300 people in the Brushy Creek Municipal Utility District (BCMUD) outside of Austin, Texas were infected with Cryptosporidium that was distributed through the public drinking water system for as long as a week before its discovery. Days after a July spillage of 170,000 gallons of raw sewage into Brushy Creek -- just west of Round Rock city limits -- four of BCMUD's wells were ordered shut down. Reports of stomach ailments -- cramps that made people double over, persistent watery diarrhea, vomiting, nausea -- started coming into area health agencies soon after.

        Utility district officials had okayed the tap water before state environmental officers realized 29 wells were contaminated. By the time the wells were closed, the Crypto had already gotten into the drinking water and infected the people -- giving them diarrhea severe enough to kill infants, the elderly and immunocompromised people. The sewage spilled from a pumping station without backup power that was struck by lightning. The station is operated by Eco Resources Inc. for the city of Austin.